The Astoria, London 16 May 2004
Twenty-three years, man. Twenty-three (of course) years since (when I was way too small to appreciate this shit) the colossal monster of sound known as Throbbing Gristle last stomped its way through a live venue. The mission was terminated? or was it? Cut to NOW. A bunch of people, all of whom knew it was too good to be true that the legendary THROBBING FUCKING GRISTLE had overcome their differences and were actually headlining an entire fucking festival – at a holiday camp in Camber Sands, no less – had their hopes dashed as the whole event was cancelled two weeks before the scheduled date. But then? TG announced a one-off “live recording session” (I shouldn’t
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Ah, Industrial music before the word Industrial became synonymous with Heavy Metal! Earlier/Later is the second album of Richard H Kirk‘s archive tracks from The Grey Area of Mute, the first being Digital lifeforms Redux in his Sandoz guise. As with that album’s second disc, this compilation contains previously unreleased material, including a cover of Can‘s “I Want More” which is given the full Donna Summer/Giorgio Moroder Electro treatment.
Digital Lifeforms Redux is a reissue of work originally available on Touch from Richard H Kirk, the electronic half of Cabaret Voltaire. Unlike the Early/Later compilation simultaneously released by The Grey Area, this album represents a specific moment in time: the years 92-93. It is less representative of his work in Cabaret Voltaire, not that an Richard H Kirk album should be obliged to be representative. Kirk says that “the inspiration for much of this music came from a trip to Haiti in 1991″. It is “an attempt to fuse African sounds with machine music, or European electronics”. The tracks on Digital Lifeforms also take inspiration from Detroit Techno godfathers Juan Atkins and Derrick May, and the Redux edition includes an extra